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How does an alcoholic feel on a day to day basis generally?

I

Intenselife

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Aug 4, 2013
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In the past few years i have seen where the dangers of alcohol, and how it isn't as safe as many people think it is has become more publicly known. Even though it is nothing unusual to hear of drunk people being aggressive, out of control, etc however we often do not look at alcohol as a big deal in this country and many others im sure. I am a college student and for the past 3 years i hear so many people say "I don't do drugs or never will, but i drink".

Also many of my favorite actors/actresses, artists/singers, reality stars etc are alcoholics including many celebrities. Obviously due to the fact that alcohol is legal and considered more acceptable than any drug use. However the thing that puzzles me is that i hear drug addicts of other kinds complain to some extent of about their addiction or some sort of negative side effect resulting from their addiction. But the few people i knew who were alcoholics were in complete denial that it affected them negatively in any sort of way, and at the time i believed it.

Looking back at it from what i know, how can it be possible for someone drinking 12 drinks a day or sometimes much more than that every day not have ANY negative side effects, if not several?

I am a binge drinker, but haven't encountered any unusually extremely offsetting side effects, so since many people do not go into details about their addiction with alcohol and such, i want to hear from someone what are some symptoms that an daily alcoholic will feel everyday even when not in withdrawal?

Examples include: Constant headache, constant stomach pain/heartburn, burning sensation when having a bowel movement, shaky arms or other body parts, very sad/depressed, angry/irritated, confused/guilty, anxious and worried, vomitting, overly confident and rude etc etc, thanks.
 
It's very easy to pretend you don't have a problem when your DOC is sold at a store at a reasonable price.
If there was a heroin store on every corner, I'd find it much easier to maintain and lead more of a "normal" life.
As far as not feeling side effects, give it time. For anyone. People find ways to beat down hangovers(usually more booze) but the overall problem catches up.
A lot of the alcoholics I've run into that maybe weren't yet at say the DT stage but still had a problem generally seemed depressed.
I was gonna hash my answer out more but I need to sleep. Fuckin sleep.
 
Like shit. I'm a functional borderline-alcoholic. I used to be a true alcoholic. I lived and partied in a hotel the year I turned 21 and a few times got high blood pressure and shaked quite a bit when I didn't drink. Even when I did have booze life was terrible. I always felt anxious, depressed, nauseous, dizzy, mal-nourished, pathetic, lonely, it was really a negative experience being a hardcore alcoholic. Constantly feeling hungover only to get drunk and more depressed than you where before. Alcohol addiction is functional but not enjoyable at alll

I'm still an alcoholic on a different level. A purely psychological dependence on a minimum of 6-7 standard US drinks a night. And even that sucks dick. My family has lots of alcoholism. I should have known better. Don't risk it. Alcohol addiction is easy in the beginning because its cheap and legal. But that's the same reason that makes it hard to beat in the end.
 
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Meh I drank a bottle of vodka daily for 2 years and it wasn't too bad I guess. I was already depressed, hence the drinking, so I guess that was an issue.

Mainly my biggest problem was over doing it and being really hungover, like poisoned for 18 hours hung over. Also the needing to drink part sucked like I couldn't picture a night after 630pm without a bottle. So even if I has 2 dollars in nickles I would get the smallest and cheapest bottle they had.

All and all it wasn't too hard to be functional. Was I at like 25% when I woke up, sure but that's the trade off I suppose. I never got to the point where I would drink in the mornings though.
 
Interesting replies so far, i hope someone else can also chime in on this who has experience xd
 
My stepdad was a raging alcoholic. Went from managing a custom car audio shop to driving drunk and totalling his lotus and breaking his neck and losing hia ear from friction sliding on the pavement. After the accident convinced himself hed work on his own, and did so for awhile. He just couldnt quit drinking and Woke up every morning puking. Couldnt go a day without alcohol without horrible shakes and sickness. Before the accident he was going to his job drunk and was about to get fired, the accident gave them reason to tell him not to come back his drinking was severly interfering w his ability to work. Eventually just lost his mind. It was very sad. I uaed to call him dad then he morphed into this guy who i never knew was inside him. His attempt to run his own business failed becauae he just drank all day and never got work done. Started getting violent and abusive and losing his mind so we left. My mom was w him for 15 years. Last i heard he lives w his mom and has nothing. Alcohol has terrible negative effects. He would get drunk and tear the house apart and just act nuts. I guess you dont really know alcoholism til youve been around it/had it, as with pretty much any addiction.
 
Wow and to think many people are quick to blaim other drugs and defend alcohol which clearly isn't any better, atleast not long term wise..
 
It really depends on the person / type of drunk. Some people wait until night time to drink, and will down 12 beers and will kinda keep it to themselves if they are a calm drunk. I know someone like that who has to drink daily but keeps it to beers and just gets drunk and night and then falls asleep. Yea he may post more freely on facebook, and if you call him up he will be talking more enthusiastically about certain things, so all in all not that bad. It seems like beer drinkers don't have it that bad.

Then there are the hard liquor drinking alcoholics that seem to be the ones that get really moody. They may act childish while drunk, may need help getting around, and more people probably know about their problem compared to the beer drinkers.

Now for my experiences when I was a heavy drinker. One of the biggest effects that it had on me was my sleep pattern being so scattered due to passing out at all different times. I was never angry while drinking, so the only noticeable trait I had was that I would be more forward while drunk, as well as saying funny stuff that most normal people wouldn't say out loud. Friends from college knew I was always drinking, so if I was acting a little weird they knew what was up, but it was just kinda who I was, and not that big of a deal since I was still in college and getting by since I saved the drinking for after class and not on nights before morning classes or tests.

I usually drank 4-5 nights a week, with 2-3 of them resulting in a blackout, and I only went maybe 2 weekends in my 2 years away at school without blacking out. I did alright in school and never showed up to class drunk (other than a few times in some gen eds that were simple classes) so I was definitely a functioning alcoholic. My bad hangovers were usually just on sundays since it was like a cumulative hangover from going hard friday and saturday, and sometimes it started a day earlier (I drank on thursdays but not always enough to get wasted).
 
I am/was a blackout drunk for the past 25+ years. The last 10 years I havent been functional at all. If i'm awake, im drinking because if i dont i go into full blown dt's with in 24 hours. Shaking violently after 6-12 hours. my liver is shot, i have diabetes, high pressure and hep=c (from the dope days). I dont work, i have no life basically. I have a few drinking buddies and some folks that look in on me from time to time. Bring me food and such. I live in a small dump of a studio apt., no car, i do pay my bills on the 1st of the month, then every dime i have goes toward booze and some weed. I puke several times a day, piss and shit myself when passed out sometimes.

I just went to detox last month for about the 15th time and drank the day i got out. Ive been drinking about 3 days a week since last month, of course until I pass out. Its only a matter of months/weeks until i'll be going full blast everyday again.

This is my life. Proceed with caution.
 
CaveBear said:
I am/was a blackout drunk for the past 25+ years. The last 10 years I havent been functional at all. If i'm awake, im drinking because if i dont i go into full blown dt's with in 24 hours. Shaking violently after 6-12 hours. my liver is shot, i have diabetes, high pressure and hep=c (from the dope days). I dont work, i have no life basically. I have a few drinking buddies and some folks that look in on me from time to time. Bring me food and such. I live in a small dump of a studio apt., no car, i do pay my bills on the 1st of the month, then every dime i have goes toward booze and some weed. I puke several times a day, piss and shit myself when passed out sometimes.

I just went to detox last month for about the 15th time and drank the day i got out. Ive been drinking about 3 days a week since last month, of course until I pass out. Its only a matter of months/weeks until i'll be going full blast everyday again.

This is my life. Proceed with caution.
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Damn man, have you considered any long-term treatment facilities? I was in detox with a decent amount of alcoholics (it seems like detoxes are split between the older drinkers and the younger heroin addicts, the difference being that a lot of the old timers preach about AA and say then know exactly what to do to stay clean since they have had a decent amount of clean time before, so now it's just a matter of putting it into practice) and they were in bad shape. They were still shaking a few days into it, and their blood pressures were through the roof so some of them had an extended stay there.

Alcohol is a horrible drug in terms of risk/reward. It's not the euphoric and is rather mostly used to escape from reality as opposed to opiates and other drugs which are often used to enhance ones experiences, making their reality better (only for a short time obviously).

When I was homeless the majority of the people in the shelter with me were alcoholics. There were a few heroin addicts but they seem a little more resourceful and as long as they have a place to stay they can usually function with their drugs, or get on a maintenance drug like methadone or suboxone and carry on as usual. With alcohol though it's not easy to function once you've crossed that imaginary line. Most alcoholics have lost their licenses, have been arrested a number of times, and can't hold a job since they get fired after showing up wasted.

Every town has their little drunk communities, consisting mostly of homeless alcoholics or those that are living in poverty or have been kicked out of their homes and can only sleep there after spending the day running around town stealing 4 lokos and the like to keep the withdrawals at bay. If they have extra booze and a member of their community is hurting they will spare it, but on the flip side there can be a lot of drama when they get wasted and someone steals some beers from the others, and leaves them hanging the next day.

The same can be said for some heroin users I guess, but it seems like the shelf-life of a street junkie is a lot less than that of a drinker, meaning that junkies don't last too long on the streets before giving up and getting clean, or moving / being forced out of that town for burning too many bridges or getting arrested. Drunks on the other hand, you may see the same one in the same park for years, and they will be there for years to come. I think it might be because alcoholics spend enough time homeless and/or get sick enough to end up with government aid, so they may be housed and just live in poverty drinking in the same streets for years, whereas junkies end up getting clean before it comes to that since they usually don't have the time to cooperate enough with social services to be placed in some shitty housing. Also, I feel like a lot of heroin users are very smart and are only on the streets because they pissed off their families, so they can be back on their feet quicker / easier than some drunks that may not be as intelligent (no offense, it's just an observation from my time on the streets) or functional enough to get their shit together.
 
Tommyboy said:
Damn man, have you considered any long-term treatment facilities? I was in detox with a decent amount of alcoholics (it seems like detoxes are split between the older drinkers and the younger heroin addicts, the difference being that a lot of the old timers preach about AA and say then know exactly what to do to stay clean since they have had a decent amount of clean time before, so now it's just a matter of putting it into practice) and they were in bad shape. They were still shaking a few days into it, and their blood pressures were through the roof so some of them had an extended stay there.

Alcohol is a horrible drug in terms of risk/reward. It's not the euphoric and is rather mostly used to escape from reality as opposed to opiates and other drugs which are often used to enhance ones experiences, making their reality better (only for a short time obviously).

When I was homeless the majority of the people in the shelter with me were alcoholics. There were a few heroin addicts but they seem a little more resourceful and as long as they have a place to stay they can usually function with their drugs, or get on a maintenance drug like methadone or suboxone and carry on as usual. With alcohol though it's not easy to function once you've crossed that imaginary line. Most alcoholics have lost their licenses, have been arrested a number of times, and can't hold a job since they get fired after showing up wasted.

Every town has their little drunk communities, consisting mostly of homeless alcoholics or those that are living in poverty or have been kicked out of their homes and can only sleep there after spending the day running around town stealing 4 lokos and the like to keep the withdrawals at bay. If they have extra booze and a member of their community is hurting they will spare it, but on the flip side there can be a lot of drama when they get wasted and someone steals some beers from the others, and leaves them hanging the next day.

The same can be said for some heroin users I guess, but it seems like the shelf-life of a street junkie is a lot less than that of a drinker, meaning that junkies don't last too long on the streets before giving up and getting clean, or moving / being forced out of that town for burning too many bridges or getting arrested. Drunks on the other hand, you may see the same one in the same park for years, and they will be there for years to come. I think it might be because alcoholics spend enough time homeless and/or get sick enough to end up with government aid, so they may be housed and just live in poverty drinking in the same streets for years, whereas junkies end up getting clean before it comes to that since they usually don't have the time to cooperate enough with social services to be placed in some shitty housing. Also, I feel like a lot of heroin users are very smart and are only on the streets because they pissed off their families, so they can be back on their feet quicker / easier than some drunks that may not be as intelligent (no offense, it's just an observation from my time on the streets) or functional enough to get their shit together.
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No offense taken. Your observation is one I agree with. I too was/am a heroin addict. I od'd and died December 28, 2008. Havent touched H since that night. The od, was a combination of a 5th of whiskey and a 3 bag shot. I fell out immediately. If not for my bro being with me i'd be dead. Truth be told. I'm a mess. Many mental health issues, bi-polar, ptsd...I had the bi-polar for as long as i can remember, the ptsd after military service, alcoholism through out my family, fuked at birth i guess. No excuse though. Ive got sober before, 2 years once, a year here and there but i always end up at the bottom of a bottle. I started using coke and H because, and I realized this a few years ago, the alcohol just wasnt killing the pain or giving me enough of an escape anymore. But after the od, i decided H wasnt for me anymore. I'd rather die a slow death with booze than do a shot and die immediately.

So now its booze, weed, and the occasional pill. But i've for the most part quit pills as well, as most contain acetaminophen, which as im sure u know is terrible for the liver.

A couple observations from your post. Your correct most detoxes seem to be older guys, im (42), who are drunks and younger folks who are addicted to one opiate or another. Hell even last month at the detox it was exactly like that.

Also, we do preach about AA and we do know how to stay clean and sober, we just dont or wont for what ever reason. I got a chuckle outta that in your post...lol.

Ahh...well. I'm stone sober right now, for now. How long that will last is a guessing game. Peace.
 
You know addicts are addicts. Theres really no difference to me in addicts who abuse heroin or alcohol. Once addiction takes control of your life you're not the same person. A philosophical person would argue at that point you're not even human or on the fringes of humanity. The reason alcohol is legal is because it's a drug that's much less likely to get people addicted. Nobody wants to hear about how faily heroin isn't harming your health, if you're doing heroin on the daily you have problems, somewhere you made the wrong turn in life. When abused alcohol will destroy your body, but most people don't have that problem because they are social/weekend.
 
Very interesting topic IntenseLife, it is true that there are still people who does not consider alcoholism as a great issue. They are afraid of drugs but not alcohol. When the truth is that alcohol is as dangerous as drugs or if not controlled maybe even more dangerous. most alcoholics won't admit that it has affected their life in a bad way. They will go on singing about ho alcohol helps them relieve stress or how it helps them to be jovial and happy, but they will not admit that it is affecting their heath. And this is the greatest tragedy of an alcoholic. If we want to be cured from any disease first we ourselves must understand that it is a disease and is ruining our life. Like any other addiction alcohol addiction needs treatment. It also requires a push from the side of alcoholics, they must realize the fact that drinking too much of alcohol is not normal.
 
Alcohol is shite. You wake up, hungover, puke, take a xanex, and try to pull your life together enough to get through another day. Sometimes I'd shit and there would be like mucus and blood on the stool.

The lining of my toilet bowl started to get etched by all the stomach acid I subjected it to. Ruined my teeth, as well.

One hangover I woke up, having fallen asleep with a lit cigarette, and my finger was burned down to the bone AND stuck to the mattress, which was also burnt up. That was lovely.

Then, I at least, thought I was okay when I was drunk. Nah, I was a dramatic bastard. Went through so many friendships.

THEN, when you decide to stop drinking, you get the lovely withdrawals, get to listen to voices in the wind, little if any ability to sleep, shaking, restless legs, etc. It's a fuckin treat, let me tell you. I went through a whole bottle of ambien in a few days, took 13 one night, and nope, no sleep, just got to watch like calvin and hobbes cartoons spontaneously start playing on the white walls.

Heroin addiction was an UPGRADE for me. Got me to quit drinking at least! Which was well on the way to killing me.
 
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